Handicapped persons, particularly those using wheelchairs, have been afforded substantially increased access and mobility as a result of the passage of The Americans With Disability Act, which requires access to be provided to public buildings. Often the enhanced mobility provided to wheelchair users requires the assistance of an attending "Care giver," such as a spouse or family member, for propelling and directing the wheelchair occupied by the patient, such as in shopping in a supermarket. In order to achieve greater mobility, wheelchairs now commonly in use are of collapsible construction, adapted for movement between an open or occupied position and a closed, flat position for transport in a vehicle, particularly the trunk of a car or alternatively, for storage in a closet. The collapsible construction of such chairs precludes a cross bar handle for pushing, such as is common with shopping carts, rather rearwardly extending handles are provided for pushing the wheelchairs by an attendant which do not provide ease of use, and require the use of both hands.
In order to fold flat, the handles, being formed integrally with the tubular frame of the wheelchair and typically having grips, are currently constructed to extend rearwardly in the same plane as the wheelchair's side frame panel. When the wheelchair is in the open/occupied position, the hand grip handles extend rearwardly in a plane parallel with the side panels, such that, in order for an attendant to grip the hand grips for propulsion, it is necessary to twist his or her wrist approximately 90.degree. forward from the normal gripping position, whereby the attendant's knuckles are in alignment with the rearwardly extending hand grip handle, placing a strain on the attendant's wrist, thereby weakening it. Also, as currently designed, wheelchairs must be operated by the use of both handles due to the weight of the patient, and the poor leverage provided by the rearwardly extending hand grip handles. Inasmuch as both handles are required by the attendant to operate the wheelchair, it is very difficult to operate the wheelchair and open doors or do grocery shopping with an associated shopping cart or, in a hospital situation to push an accessory piece of equipment while propelling the patient.
In the past, wheelchair hand grip construction has not received attention because historically these chairs were operated by hospital orderlies, or were intended for limited movement about a dwelling where the wheelchair is attended by a member of the family. More recently, prior art devices have attempted to provide improved mobility with devices which are adapted for one-handed operation. For example, a raised adapter handle has been developed for use on wheeled vehicles having two spaced-apart handles and a single hand grip extending from the center of the adapter handle. This adapter handle is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,357, issued on Nov. 24, 1987 to Mavis Soderbaum, which Letters Patent have been assigned to the Gerard Berkowitz. Whereas the Soderbaum adapter handle provides a single handle between two handle grips, it has failed to re-orient the single handle such that it remains difficult to apply propulsion and steering forces to the wheeled vehicle with the single, rearwardly extending handle. Furthermore, the Soderbaum handle is not easily removable to permit use on a plurality of wheeled vehicles, as is required in a hospital setting where an attendant is called upon to serve a large number of wheelchair patients on a given day. Another prior art adapter handle, adapted for use with two spaced-apart handles, is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,697, issued on Oct. 10, 1989 to Gerard Berkowitz. The Berkowitz adapter handle suffers from the same deficiencies as the Soderbaum in that it fails to re-orient the unitary handle used to apply propulsion forces and for steering, rather it also extends rearwardly and remains difficult to operate, particularly where heavy loads are involved as is with a wheelchair patient in a thick pile carpet environment such as a retirement home. Furthermore, Berkowitz uses clamps which permit removal, but does not permit quick removal, and involves complex apparatus. Berkowitz is adapted to accommodate a plurality of sized handles, but requires complex clamping mechanisms for such an accommodation.
Another adapter handle has been developed which extends between the hand grips of a wheelchair to permit an attendant to maneuver it with one hand by utilizing a raised hand grip cross bar. This particular wheelchair handle is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,650, issued on Sep. 3, 1991 to Robert Eberle, Jr. The Eberle wheelchair handle provides a raised cross bar extending above and between handles on the wheelchair. In order to connect the Eberle handle it is necessary that the ends of the synthetic rubber handle grips be removed by cutting on given a wheelchair to provide openings. These openings give a number and page and line reference and are required to accept pins to extend in the open ends of the handles, being held in place by friction alone. Eberle has the further difficulty that there is no positive locking device to keep the raised cross bar in engagement with the handles at such time as the wheelchair is being wheeled down a decline. Without a locking device, there is a risk that an attendant, upon attempting to restrain forward movement of the wheelchair, is apt to pull the raised cross bar free from the wheelchair, losing control thereof.
Also, whereas orderlies were historically used to assist wheelchair patients in hospital settings, it is now common for volunteer "Care Givers", typically retired persons, to perform this task. Normally an on-duty care giver is called upon to assist a large number of wheelchair patients, with relatively short notice, and as a rule, each has their own collapsible wheelchair which may vary slightly in construction, particularly with respect to handle grips. Furthermore, it is common for wheelchair patients to be undergoing continuing treatment in a hospital, such as receiving intravenous treatment, and thus are connected by tubing apparatus to medical equipment installed on an accessory wheeled vehicle called a "quest infuser". In order to push both the wheelchair and such accessory equipment, the care giver must push the wheelchair with one hand, attend to the quest infuser with the other and deal with opening and closing doors as appropriate.
It is henceforth desirable to provide for a new and improved adjustable push bar apparatus for connecting hand grips of a collapsible wheelchair, whereby the wheelchair may be easily operated by an attendant with one hand and which provides protection against accidental loss of control to provide for quick connection and disconnects with a plurality of sizes of wheel chairs and to overcome at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art adapter handle devices.